A Change of Command
In the engineering section of the ship, Commander Tucker and his engineers were doing everything possible to maintain the ship's systems and restore power to areas that had lost it. The fact that the deflectors were down had barely registered when the ship almost simultaneously seemed to slow and to shake as an object collided with it.
"What was that?" yelled Tucker, crashing into a bulkhead as he moved from one station to another, caught in the current of fast-paced and stressful energy that always seemed to fill engineering during a crisis, swirling crewman from console to console and problem to problem.
"We have registered an impact, sir." said a crewman from a nearby station.
"How bad?"
"The ship is venting oxygen. The primary hull has been compromised and the secondary as well."
"We have to repair that. Get someone on it." barked Tucker, stepping fully into the role of chief engineer.
"We can't, sir. The area has been sealed off." the crewman informed him. The young engineer seemed a bit pale as he swallowed hard and delivered another piece of information. "It's the bridge." he said.
Commander Tucker was just about to say something when a familiar voice came over the comm system: "Trip, are you down there?" asked Captain Archer, his voice just coming through over the sound of various alarms.
Trip dashed to a comm panel and managed to press the right button before he answered his commanding officer, "Yeah, Jon, I'm down here. Are you all right? Are you on the bridge?"
"I'm fine, Trip, for now, but we have a ... situation up here."
"I know. I just heard. Can you evacuate?"
"That's a negative. I am transferring command of the ship to you, Trip, in the event that we can't find and plug this leak."
"Wait a minute. What about T'Pol? Shouldn't she be in charge?" asked Tucker, his own heartbeat pounding in his ears as he spoke.
"She's up here too."
"But, Jon, how am I supposed to, I mean, what am I supposed to do?" he questioned, feeling at that moment very dizzy. Everyone that he felt he knew, that he felt right about as a person, was on that bridge. A sickening sense of self-doubt swept over him as he leaned against the comm panel.
"Get the ship through the storm. I'm counting on you, commander." said Jonathan Archer in a firm tone of voice that Trip recognized only too well.
"Aye, sir." said Trip, his voice catching in his throat.
When the commander turned from the panel, every eye in engineering was on him. The engineering sector was strangely still and quiet. Tucker looked at his people, his eyes moving from one face to next.
"Looks like we got ourselves a rescue mission on our hands." said Tucker with grim humor coming through loud and clear despite the emotional upset. "But first things first. Start moving us out of this storm at our best impulse speed. We won't be able to do anything for the captain until this ship stops shaking." he ordered.
It was almost to his surprise when everybody in engineering, most of whom didn't even have an inkling that anything was wrong with their chief, began working double quick to obey his directive.
"Full impulse, sir." yelled one technician only a few minutes later.
"How long till we're out of here?" he questioned.
"Sixteen minutes, and it will be a rough ride." he was informed as the ship pitched more violently.
"Get someone to try and hold her steady then." Tucker told the technician. "Transfer helm control from the bridge if you can. They got bigger fish to fry up there."
"Yes, sir." nodded the crewman, scrambling toward a console in the corner.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------